the top tech sector stock was akamai technologies. akamai helps speed up and manage online content and traffic. a new partnership with at&t led to today's rally. shares jumped 10% on heavy volume. analysts say the deal turns at&t from a competitor of akamai's to a customer, eliminating the rival from akamai's business. on the consumer side, starbucks was hot. first, the company said it will pay more taxes in britain in the next two years. yesterday, the company said it will open at least 1,500 new stores in the u.s. over the next five years. starbucks said the market is not saturated shares jumped 5.7%. volume tripled with the stock closing at five month highs. tax prep giant h&r block sits at a new 52-week high tonight. it lost less money than feared last quarter. h&r block has been cutting costs to focus on its core tax preparation business, especially digital tax prep. even satellite radio operator sirius/xm radio can't resist returning some of its cash to shareholders. it announced a one-time dividend of a nickel per share and a $